"I realized that I was already on the list of those to be shot. I am the head of the Movement that fought for the Independence of Ukraine"

Valentyna Strilko is a candidate of pedagogical sciences, a member of the National Union of Local History of Ukraine, the president of Yaroslav Mudryi International Educational Foundation. During the full-scale invasion, she lived near Kyiv.

"In the morning, I called my friends. Russia started shelling weapons depots. The airfield in Boryspil has survived, but they hit a military unit. The coming information was scary. I know how Moscow has been trying to destroy Ukraine for the last 300 years. But we did not believe that they would come to Kyiv. It can't be that Kyiv will fall. 

I saw a missile flying over our heads. It fell in Brovary. Many people died there then. 

There were 12 people living in my house. Everyone was thinking what to do: stay or leave Ukraine. But I realized that I was already on the list of those to be shot. I am the head of the Movement that fought for the Independence of Ukraine.

My daughter said: "I can't risk my child's life. If you want, come with me". But Zhytomyr highway was already a road of death. Many people were killed there. How else could we leave?", – Valentyna, a resident of the village of Hnidyn, tells her story.